Founded as the Morning Press Bureau in 1919 and tasked with coverage of Vermont's legislature while it was in session, the Vermont Press Bureau became a full-time news operation in 1935, when Bob Mitchell was hired from the Bennington Banner to provide year-round political and government coverage for the Rutland Herald and the Burlington Free Press.

During the session, two additional reporters would be assigned to the state house. By 1964, Mitchell owned the Rutland Herald and the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus, and with some convincing by Herald editor Kendall Wild, dissolved the partnership with the Free Press to found the three-member Vermont Press Bureau.

That tradition continues with a three-person bureau reporting on state politics, government and policy year-round.